Sports Minister Vijay Goel has congratulated Hockey India chief Narinder Batra on being elected as the first non-European President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on last Saturday.

Goel expressed hope that the game of hockey will spread world wide under Batra’s leadership.

“I hope that under Shri Batra number of hockey playing nations in the world will increase and hockey will regain place of prominence in the international arena,” Goel said in a message.

Batra on Saturday became the first non-European President of the FIH after he was elected to the top post by an overwhelming margin during the penultimate day of the 45th FIH Congress in Dubai.

Batra, who is the president of Hockey India, defeated David Balbirnie of Ireland and Australia’s Ken Read to become the 12th FIH President — the first Asian to grab the post in the world body’s 92-year-old history.